Algal collections

The Museum's collection of algae is one of the largest in the world, with more than a quarter of a million specimens from around the globe. These account for about five per cent of the botanical collections.

The algal collections number around 300,000 specimens of red, green and brown seaweeds, freshwater algae including charophytes, cyanobacteria, euglenophytes and xanthophytes.

The algal collections include:

some of the earliest specimens held in the Museum, dating back to the seventeenth century